Changes
by XxIgnorancexX
Summary: Max thinks her life is going fine, until things start to change in her first year of high school, though she doesn't want to accept it, she needs to. All human.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, my second fanfic for Maximum Ride, this one is all human, no wings or cool powers, all the same ages as in the first five books (14, 14, 14, 11, 8, 6) Quick synopsis: Max and Fang are best friends, Max is dating Dylan, Fang is dating Lisa, Valencia is married to Jeb, Ella and Iggy are dating, Gazzy and Angel are siblings, Max and Ella, Iggy is an only child, and Nudge and Fang are siblings. Iggy is not blind, but he has glasses and cannot see without them, he's like Velma from Scooby-Doo. The rest you'll get in the story. First chapter I have planed, out I have no clue where to go after that, it will just form itself as the story goes on and as I get new ideas, it will probably turn into a songfic, just warning you if you don't like those….enjoy, hope you like it. **

"Hey, wake up." I heard a familiar voice but couldn't make it out. I just ignored it and rolled over. "Max. Get up." I heard the voice again, this time a nudge came with it. I groaned.

"Max, somebody, and I think you know who, is here for you, get your ass out of bed." I tried to gather my thoughts. _Ella. Sister. Somebody here. Saturday morning. Too early._

I rolled over on my back and looked at Ella, my sister…or…half sister, I guess. Same thing, you get the point. "What?" I asked, annoyed.

"Dylan." She said plainly with an amused look on her face.

"What _about_ Dylan?" Dylan is my boyfriend, he moved here about a year ago and we've been dating since then.

"He's here, wants to see you." I looked at the clock. 8:37AM.

"Why so early?" I got out of bed to find some clean clothes then stopped because 1. I don't feel like getting them and 2. I don't care if anyone sees me in sweatpants and an old shirt stained with something I can't quite make out, I'm pretty sure it's grape juice.

"Max, it's almost 9, it's not early." She said as I put my sock monkey slippers on.

"Early to _me_." I said a little delirious.

I walked down the hall into the kitchen and there was the whole family plus our neighbors, Gazzy and Angel, I guess mom agreed to watch them for the afternoon while their parents are out. I didn't see Dylan.

"Hey kids." I said when the looked up.

"Hey Max." They said in unison. Immediately Angel went back to her coloring book and Gazzy focused on some video game he had.

"Um…Ella you said Dylan was here." I said looking into the living room and around the corner to see if maybe he was in there.

"He's not." She said simply and shrugged. I raised my eyebrows in question. "Mom told me to wake you up and I figured that was the fastest way to get you out of bed." She said taking a bite of her bagel.

I looked at my mom. She raised her hands in defense, "I swear it wasn't my idea, I just told her to wake you up, not how." I nodded my head as I took out the cereal.

"Any plans for the day?" My dad asked, not taking his eyes off of the newspaper.

"Fang, Iggy, Ella, J.J., Sam, and I are going to the beach." I said with a mouth full of Corn Flakes.

"Not Dylan or Lisa?" My mom asked. Even though she already knows that Lisa hates me and Dylan hates Fang. When you live in small-town Arizona, everybody knows everybody's business.

"That would not end pretty." Ella said rolling her eyes.

"Oh, that's right, I forgot, you don't like Lisa." She said.

"It's not that_ I_ don't like Lisa, Lisa doesn't like _me_." And she doesn't, truly hates me. Same reason Dylan isn't exactly fond of Fang. Fang and I are best friends, Lisa is beyond jealous of me, thinks I am "a major threat to their relationship" according to her. And Dylan just doesn't like knowing that my best friend is someone all the girls fall for at school.

"Max, they'll be here in 15 minutes, you'd better get ready, and you know how Sam gets." Ella said. True, I love Sam, great guy, great friend, he just gets annoyed with me easily when we have plans on any morning and I take to long.

"Alrighty then." I slurped down the rest of the milk at the bottom of the bowl and headed down the hall. That's one thing I liked about this house. My room was on the ground floor, right next to the bathroom I have officially claimed as mine because I'm the only one who ever uses it. It's just a small hallway, my room, a guest room, the door to the basement, and a bathroom, I'm the only one who's ever near that hall.

I dug through the mess of stuff on my closet floor until I found my bathing suit, just a simple black and blue Speedo I found for ten bucks at T.J. Maxx. I slipped it on and dug through the mountain of my clothing until I found an oversized shirt I could use to just throw on over the suit.

I grabbed a back pack on the top of the shelf and threw all the necessities in; towel, sun block, iPod, phone, and a book just in case. I ran my brush through my hair until most of the tangles were out.

"Hello?" I heard a voice. It was Fang's, most of us, and by most of us I mean all of my close friends, have come accustom to just coming in our house and yelling until they hear a voice that lives here.

"Hey! Be right out!" I yelled back quickly swishing some mouth so it seemed like I brushed my teeth.

"Is anyone here?" I asked coming out of the bathroom.

"Not yet." He saw my expression, "Not even Sam. I know, it's a first."

"Want a water?" I asked, even though I had already tossed a bottle his way.

"Jeez, give me a little warning, will ya?" He said laughed catching the bottle before it hit him.

"Sorry, just a habit." I got out bottles for the rest of us.

"Of throwing water bottles at people?"

"Obviously." I said sarcastically as Ella came down from her room.

"Heya Fang." She said cheerfully.

"Hi Elle"

"Iggy isn't here?" She asked, just as Iggy was walking in.

"Now I am." He said right on cue, like it was rehearsed. He walled over to Ella and gave her a kiss.

Gazzy and Angel both "ewed" in unison. I choked on my water, Fang chuckled, Iggy glared, but Ella found it funny.

"Okay, we ready to go? Where's Sam?" He asked finally realizing he wasn't the last one to show up.

"Not here." Ella answered.

"Huh." He thought about that.

"I think he was picking up J.J. on the way, maybe she's taking a while." I pointed out.

"True." This was the good thing about Sam, he will be a junior when school starts up again, so he's the only one of us with a license. J.J. will be a sophomore, Fang, Iggy, Dylan, Lisa and I will be freshmen, and Ella is starting eighth grade.

Anyway, because Sam is the one with the license, he's the one stuck driving us around everywhere. Though there are six of us, and five seats. He has his own small car, with five seats, the two in the front, then a row in the back, there's a small trunk space behind the back row that one of us always gets stuck in.

"So how's Nudge?" I asked Fang, just to make conversation.

"Good, she's doing something with her room this week. There's paint and brushes and tape, decorations, and a bunch of other crap all over the place." He responded seeming a bit annoyed, but amused.

"Sounds like something she'd do." I laughed. Nudge was very artsy. Loved fashion, style, and from what I've heard, in the art room at school all the time, after school, and multiple periods a day. She's in sixth grade, Fang's little sister.

He went to say something else when J.J. came barging in. "Sorry we're late!" She yelled as she walked into the kitchen with an annoyed Sam behind her.

"Somebody," He said looking at J.J., "Woke up a little late." He seemed annoyed, but couldn't help but smile. Maybe it's because everyone loves J.J.

"What do you mean by 'a little'" Fang asked making air quotes around "a little."

"He knocked on the door and I woke up." J.J. explained. We all laughed.

"Anyway, we ready to go?" Beach time is awaistin'" Iggy said sliding down the island counter we have and jogging out of the door. We all stopped and ran out to beat him to the car. Nobody likes being stuck in the trunk with most of the crap we take with us. Sam gets an automatic out because he's the only driver we have. And J.J. being his girlfriend gets automatic shotgun.

Iggy ran to the backseat door as I pushed him out of the way and pulled the handle. It was locked.

"You cheated." Iggy remarked like a four year old.

"You owe me one, last week you pushed me and made me bleed." I responded in an equally childish tone. I pointed at the scab on my arm to make my point, the scab that he gave me from pushing me onto the pavement. I had another scar on my knee from then too, but figured I wouldn't rub it in too much.

"Touché. Truce?" He stuck out his hand.

"In your dreams. SAM! OPEN THE DOOR!" I yelled, even though he wasn't too far away from me. There's a good chance I busted an eardrum.

He clicked a button to unlock the car, I opened the door and dove in to get and dove to the side. Ella slid in right behind him. Fang, of all people, was left behind.

"Ha, sorry Fang, you've got the trunk." Iggy said in a very cocky tone, with a smirk on his face.

"Hey Ig, where's your bag?" Fang asked leaning over into the door.

"What do you mean?" He asked, smile fading.

"Towels, snacks, it's not here." Now Fang was the one with the smile.

"Crap." Then Iggy realized he'd left it in the house. Ella got out to let Iggy get out, slid back in, and Fang took Iggy's spot. By this point, we where all pretty much hysterical.

As I was calming down my phone rang. I looked at the caller ID. It was Dylan. I went to answer, but Ella must have seen it as well, so she grabbed the phone out of my hand and gave it to Fang so I couldn't reach it.

"What was that for?" I demanded.

"Forget it." Ella said, very seriously. "Stay with us for once, no Dylan whatsoever. You don't see Fang talking to Lisa twenty-four seven."

"Well…I did break my phone last week. It's due for an upgrade next week so I'll get a new one then." She reasoned.

She turned to glare at him, "Not. Helping." She turned toward me, "seriously, enjoy the day, forget about stupid Dylan." That's another thing, no one really likes Dylan, he doesn't realize it, but most of my friends don't like him…at least my close friends. But he doesn't know this, and I'm not going to be the one to tell him.

The phone was silent. Fang went to give it back, but when I went to take it he pulled back, "No more Dylan?" He asked, but meant it as a rhetorical question. He was telling me.

"No more Dylan." I promised, took my phone back just as it beeped to let me know I had a message.

"Max…." Ella warned, and I dropped it into my bag.

"You know, we really do hate him." She said, refusing to look at me.

I sighed. "I know." I've heard it a million times. But this time, it really stuck.

**Okay, hope you liked it. Please give me feedback so I know if I should keep going or not.**

**~XxIgnorancexX~**


	2. Chapter 2

Luckily the car ride is never long, we didn't go to the ocean, because in order to do that we either need to go to Mexico, which is a pain in the ass, or drive over to California, which means a long ride with six people, and with Iggy in the trunk, he's probably in a super uncomfortable position, and most likely has been turned into a human pretzel. So we went to a lake about 15 minutes away, it may not be as nice as the Pacific Ocean, but it's still fun, especially because no one ever comes here, it's not even an official beach, but we found it, and there's almost never anyone comes.

We piled out of Sam's tiny car, it was like that thing you see at a circus when a million clowns pop out of s really tiny car. Then opened the trunk so Iggy didn't have to climb over the back seats. Last time he did that he managed to twist his ankle.

Getting Iggy out was a bit of a process. A guy that is over six feet tall, is not capable of fitting in a tiny trunk with a bunch of other crap very comfortably. We needed to take most of our junk out and pull him. Clearly, even though the ride was short, he was stiff, had a very hard time moving at first.

He was the only one that didn't find it hysterical.

"Okay, last weekend before school starts, we gotta make it good." Sam said taking out a basket of stuff, I didn't know what it was.

"Do we need anything other than food?" Fang asked. Which is definitely something he'd say. Out of all of us he by far has the biggest appetite, and not only does he eat anything, but he eats a lot of it.

"For the last weekend before school? Hell yeah." Sam said like it was completely obvious. "Our last week of careless freedom. This has to be good." So then he started emptying the contents of his trunk. It contained fireworks **(A/N: I don't know the laws of Arizona, I live on the opposite side of the country, so if fireworks aren't legal, just pretend they are for the story), **sleeping bags, lighters, a battery operated dock for iPods, and a few things to keep us occupied, like frisbees, beach balls, and a lot of food.

"What's all this for?" Ella went over and dug through the stuff.

"Celebration of the last day we have." Iggy guessed.

"Ig, we're all going to the same school, no one is leaving."

"I'm not." Ella looked offended.

"Fine. We're all in the same town." I corrected.

"It's more of a last time of freedom for another year kind of thing." J.J. explained.

"What's up with the sleeping bags? I don't remember a plan for spending the night here." Fang said.

"There wasn't" Iggy answered him.

Sam smiled "Want to?" He asked.

"I'm up for it." I shrugged.

"Me too." Ella said. I knew if Iggy was staying, mom might not take it so well.

Everyone else agreed and we all went to call our parents.

"Hey Max, what's up?" My mom asked when she answered her phone.

"We had an idea." I decided I might want to ask gently, because odds are she wont agree.

"And that would be…?"

"Sam had an idea that we spend the night here. At the beach." I bit my lip waiting for a "be responsible" speech or a "no."

"Who will be there?" She asked.

"Everyone who came…" I responded.

"Do have enough food and a place to sleep?" More questions.

"Plenty, and Sam brought us all sleeping bags and pillows, we all have cell phones if something happens, the weather will be great all week…" I tried to think of another reason to why it would be okay.

There was a few moments of silence. She was thinking. "Is Iggy staying?"

"Uh huh."

"Does Ella want to stay?"

"Yeah…don't worry, I will keep an eye on them and make sure they sleep as far away from each other as possible." I added quickly.

"Okay, it's alright with me, call me in the morning. Okay?"

"Don't worry, thanks mom."

"You're welcome, love you. Bye."

"Love you too." I hung up. "Okay Elle, we're all set!" I gave a thumbs up to show what I said because it probably just went in one ear and out the other.

"Can we all stay?" Sam asked.

We heard everyone say "yes" in unison.

"What's up with all the sleeping bags? Who has _that_ many?" Iggy asked cocking his head to the side.

"I'm one of five, plus two parents. All love camping and outdoorsy stuff. We have enough supplies in our garage to hike the Appalachian Trail four times back and forth straight." It's true, Sam's family is huge on hiking and camping. Sam's older sister, Sarah, and her friend, Kelsey, are hiking the Appalachian now, they're almost done, I think they summit Katahdin within the next few weeks.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about your sister. That's pretty cool. They're going to _smell_ when they get home." Ella wrinkled her nose.

"Elle, they've been hiking for three months, in the middle of the woods, obviously they'll smell." Sam said giving her a look. She shrugged.

"Okay," I said changing the subject, "Who can stay?" I got a bunch of scattered, responses. "Everyone? Awesome."

There was silence; we all just sat there looking at each other.

"Now what?" Iggy eventually asked.

"Why don't we…." Fang stared, then it was clear that he didn't have a clue to what we should do.

"Well we came here to swim…so why don't we do that?" Sam pointed out like it was obvious…which, I guess it kind of was.

We all shrugged and starting taking off our clothes. Now before you make a WTF face, we all had bathing suits on underneath, that stayed on.

"Last one in the water gets buried in the sand later!" Iggy yelled and we all bolted to the water, practically killing each other.

I was last because I forgot I was holding my phone, and couldn't bring it in the water for obvious reasons, so I stopped to toss it back on my towel.

The good thing was that Fang tripped right before the water, so as we was hunched over while standing up I used him to get in the water by hurdling over him and using my feet to propel myself forward. It was pretty epic.

"Whoa! Ninja move!" Ella yelled.

"Unfair!" Fang yelled at me covered in sand.

"Hey, did I make you trip? I think not, I simply used your disadvantage and made it into my advantage." I thought about that, trying to make some logic out of it.

He tried to act mad, but couldn't help but laugh. He walked in, stood in front of me, and if I didn't know Fang, I probably would have peed my pants, because he can be scary, almost a foot taller than me (which is saying something because I'm pretty tall), jet black hair that fell around his face, and muscular. I mean _really _muscular. I mean, it's no surprise every girl in the school goes nuts over him. But because we've known each other since we where in the womb, I just crossed my arms and gave him a smirk.

He splashed me. A wimpy little splash. "Oh come on!" I said in disbelief. "That's all you've got?" I jumped back and kicked the water up in his face. Everyone was standing around us in hysterics.

It was almost like a movie. It got really quiet, then simultaneously everyone started splashing at each other, it was like one big, fun, wet, water war.

After about ten minutes of just playing in the water we all just collapsed on the ground, still in the water, but closer to the shore. All of us still had the giggles. It was like the time during health class last and Iggy could not stop giggling when the teacher was teaching us sex ed. Only that was worse.

"Okay, who wants lunch?" Fang finally asked.

"ME!" we all shouted at the same time.

We all ran back to our stuff as we all pulled out our lunches, luckily Sam already supplied dinner, and hopefully breakfast.

"Hey, I just thought of something." Sam said, still chewing his sandwich.

"Mmm?" I just took a bite too, it was the only noise I could make to show a response.

"Who's gonna make the fire tonight? Does anyone know how?" He asked.

Everyone else responded "Iggy." Except for Iggy, who said "Me."

"Really?" Sam asked. "I would have thought you'd be the guy to set his ass on fire."

"No, Iggy is like…a creepy pyromaniac." Ella said.

"Yet you're dating him…" You could tell he was trying to find some reasoning.

"Well, he's just good with fire…really good…he wont actually hurt anybody." Ella explained.

"On purpose." Fang added, giving Iggy a look.

"Yeah, sorry about that." He laughed.

"What'd you do?" I asked.

"Iggy and I where in his backyard, he was burning things." Fang started. "He didn't realize I had moved, bumped into me, and I proceeded to fall into the fire." Fang gave him another look.

"Dude! It's not like I left you there, I helped you out, and your clothes barely caught, it was easy to put out." Iggy defended. Fang rolled his eyes.

"Okay, everyone leave Ig alone while he's performing magic." I warned.

"I'll be careful." He said in his "I say it, but I wont promise it" voice.

"So you have any scars?" Sam asked.

"Yeah." Fang answered, but said no more.

"Let's see them." Sam persisted.

Iggy choked on his water, when he was done gagging he smiled. "Come on Fang, tell 'em."

"They're not that interesting." Fang tried to go over it.

Sam chuckled, "Where did you land?" He asked Fang.

Iggy spoke up. "Fang is the one to set his butt on fire, not me." He had a satisfied look on his face.

Everyone started cracking up. Fang, being Fang, showed little emotion, but clearly he found it funny too. Probably not at the time, because I can only imagine what it's like having your rear end being set on fire, and it seems painful. But now, I imagine it's hysterical.

**Okay, hope you liked it. Please review!**

**~XxIgnorancexX~**


	3. Chapter 3

"Who wants rolled bologna?" Iggy called over from the car.

"Rolled bologna?" Sam repeated/

Iggy walked over with multiple packages of something I couldn't see, at this point it was getting dark. "Yes. Hotdogs. Am I the only one who notices it's basically a piece of bologna just rolled up in log form?"

"Or maybe bologna is simply just a flattened hotdog." Fang pointed out. Iggy gave him a look. Fang shrugged.

"Gimme one. Or two. Or six. I'm starving." I told him holding out my hand back to him.

"Here ya go." He placed two in my hand. "Everyone need something to cook it with?" Iggy asked.

"No, we're going to throw it into the fire and hope it doesn't burn before we reach our hands in to get it." Sam said sarcastically, brining us all long, thin, metal, stick things with a wooden handle I assume are for cooking stuff on fires.

At this point we all sat around the fire on wooden logs Iggy found stacked up, it was getting dark pretty quickly, and it was getting cold. We all had blankets wrapped around us, Iggy was sitting close to Ella, his arm wrapped around her, while J.J. and Sam sat in the same position. Fang and I sat next to each other in the middle of the two love birds. This seems to always happen, the six of us get together, J.J. and Sam, Iggy and Ella, then there's just Fang and I. Before we had no problem whatsoever, but then I started dating Dylan, Fang stared dating Lisa, things seemed to change. We both ignored it like it was nothing, but now that I think about it, a lot really _did_ change.

Fang and I never saw each other, well not as much as we did, he's always with Lisa, and I'm usually with Dylan. We used to spend hours during the summers watching horror movies at either his or my own house. Then Lisa and Dylan came along, and I cant say when the last time Fang got together and laid on the living room floor surrounded my blackest and pillows, eating popcorn and searching through all the movies we rented for the week.

We used to walk down to the small diner downtown about ten minutes from our neighborhood and shoot spitballs at each other, and the occasional waiter if we did like them.

I miss it.

"What happened to the good ol' searching for roasting sticks in the woods?" Ella asked forcing me back into reality. Luckily she did, because my hotdog was burning.

"Welcome to the 21st century." Sam said while laughing. I forced a smile to show that I hadn't completely zoned out for the past…I thought. How long was it? How long does it take a hotdog to cook over a fire? If I found that out, I'd be answering both questions.

"Got any rolls?" I asked blowing my food.

"Here." Iggy said throwing a bag of rolls at my face. I didn't say anything "No thank you? How rude!" He said with humor in his voice.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you so much for chucking a bag of rolls at my face." I said with a smirk and rolling my eyes.

"Ketchup? Mustard?" Ella asked.

"What? You think I came with everything?" Sam asked. We all just looked at him and nodded our heads.

"It was your idea, we had no knowledge of before you mentioned it when we got here." Fang pointed out.

He sighed "Yeah I got ketchup." He reached around and passed the bottles of condiments around. Mine was burnt, and dry, I went nuts with toppings. I just needed chili. But I wasn't going to bother Sam by asking.

"Did anyone happen to bring anything that generates music?" Iggy asked.

"Like speakers or something?" I asked. He nodded. "I have my iPod, Sam, do you by any chance happen to keep a radio or something in your car?"

"No. I've got something better." He got this mischievous look on his face. We all looked at him in question.

He took a guitar out of the trunk. "Jeez man, how much crap can you fit in that thing?" Iggy asked.

"How the hell did you fit in there with it?" Ella asked him. "I'm sorry, but it's not like you're small, thin yes, but freakishly tall, and not at all flexible."

"And you managed to fit in there like a pretzel" J.J. finished for her.

Sam tossed the guitar to Fang. He just stared at it.

"Don't act like you don't know what it is, I know you play. And Max, I know you sing." Sam smiled. Hoping we'd do something.

"You wanna start?" I asked Fang.

"Sure." He started playing. I knew this one.

I started singing.

_Her face is a map of the world, is a map of the world  
You can see she's a beautiful girl, she's a beautiful girl  
And everything around her is a silver pool of light  
People who surround her feel the benefit of it, it makes you calm  
She holds you captivated in her palm_

J.J. must have known the song too, because she started singing along with the background voice.

_Suddenly I see  
(Suddenly I see)  
This is what I wanna be  
Suddenly I see  
(Suddenly I see)  
Why the hell it means so much to me_

_Suddenly I see  
(Suddenly I see)  
This is what I wanna be  
Suddenly I see  
(Suddenly I see)  
Why the hell it means so much to me_

_And I feel like walking the world, like walking the world  
And you can hear she's a beautiful girl, she's a beautiful girl  
She fills up every corner like she's born in black and white  
Makes you feel warmer when you're trying to remember what you heard  
She likes to leave you hanging on a wire_

Then everyone else joined in. Some on the refrain, some the verses, and J.J. stuck to the background 

_Suddenly I see  
(Suddenly I see)  
This is what I wanna be  
Suddenly I see  
(Suddenly I see)  
Why the hell it means so much to me_

_Suddenly I see  
(Suddenly I see)  
That this is what I wanna be  
Suddenly I see  
(Suddenly I see)  
Why the hell it means so much to me_

_And she's taller than most and she's looking at me  
I can see her eyes looking from the page of a magazine  
She makes me feel like I could be a tower, big strong tower yeah  
The power to be, the power to give, the power to see, yeah yeah_

_(Suddenly I see)  
She got the power to be, the power to give, the power to see, yeah yeah  
(Suddenly I see)  
She got the power to be, the power to give, the power to see, yeah yeah yeah  
(Suddenly I see)  
She got the power to be, the power to give, the power to see, yeah yeah  
(Suddenly I see)  
She got the power to be, the power to give, the power to see, yeah yeah_

_Suddenly I see  
(Suddenly I see)  
This is what I wanna be  
Suddenly I see  
(Suddenly I see)  
Why the hell it means so much to me_

_Suddenly I see  
(Suddenly I see)  
Cause this is what I wanna be  
Suddenly I see  
(Suddenly I see)  
Why the hell it means so much to me_

_Suddenly I see  
(Suddenly I see)  
Suddenly I see  
(Suddenly I see)  
Why the hell it means so much to me_

_Suddenly I see  
(Suddenly I see)  
Suddenly I see  
(Suddenly I see)  
Why the hell it means so much to me_

**(Suddenly I See by KT Tunstall)**

We weren't in bad moods before, but for some reason this really seemed to lift our spirits. We all laughed, when Fang finished the last cord, and we went on as before, teasing each other, laughing, telling stories, the only difference was that soon we were all sticky from our attempts to make smores.

Except for Ella. For some reason, she's been an expert at smore making since she was allowed to be close to fire and make them herself. Ella's affinity for smore making is like Iggy's for fire and explosions, and anything destructive.

After about two hours I finally checked my phone for the time. "Whoa, guys, its almost midnight." I laughed.

"Is it really? Seems earlier than that" She said while yawning.

"Yeah, clearly you do." Iggy laughed as she blinked a few times to keep her awake. Now that I knew the time, I noticed that I was tired too.

"Wanna set up sleeping bags?" Fang asked. We all nodded and grabbed our bags. And set them up close to each other around the fire.

"Should we keep this going?" Ella asked, looking worried that her body would be so close to it.

"Yeah, I'm not tired anyway, I can keep it going, make sure it settles down before I go to bed.

"Ella, you're next to me, Iggy, you next to Fang." I ordered. And pointed to both spots. Fang was sleeping next to me, and that would leave two whole people that would be blocking them from each other.

Ella shot me a questioning look. "Mom made me promise." I explained. Iggy looked disappointed, I shot him a look "And even if she didn't, I'd make ya do it anyway."

"It's a sister thing." Ella told him. "I'd be the same way if Dylan was here. We get kinda protective. Especially the older one" She said gesturing to me.

"I got that when we first starting dating." Iggy looked annoyed. I held back a laugh.

"Huh?" Ella asked.

"I kinda confronted him about being with you. I told him if he did anything to hurt you in any way, I'd kick is ass so hard he'd land in Texas." I laughed again.

"You said China." He corrected. Ella laughed, but looked a little mortified. If she'd found out about it then, she would've killed me.

"Everyone good?" Sam asked. We all responded some form of "yes"

We all said goodnights, talked for about another 45 minutes, then finally fell asleep.

**Fang POV**

It was probably sometime around one, maybe one thirty, in the morning. I was still poking at the fire keeping it going.

I had a lot on my mind, wouldn't have been able to sleep anyway.

I tried to focus on other things, but it always came back to one thing. Max.

Something had happened between us, but I couldn't tell what. Was it Lisa? Dylan? A combination of both?

We're best friends, but Lisa got clingy about it. Wanted to know if I was with Max if not with her, and if I was, where we were, or what we were doing.

She'd kill us both if she found out Max and I slept next to each other tonight.

The thing I kept thinking about, was how I even ended up with Lisa in the first place.

Last year before Max dated Dylan and I dated Lisa, I was in love with Max. And somewhere I know I still am.

Max went out with Dylan, so I forced myself to move on, Lisa came along, and I did. I thought. Now it's all coming back to me. I looked at her. She was rolled on her side facing Ella, he hair was whipped all around her head, and she had the blanket pulled up to her neck. She looked so peaceful.

I threw the stick into the fire, it had gone down enough, and crawled into my sleeping bag.

I looked at Max one last time before I laid down. "I still love you." I whispered. Then turned over and fell asleep.

**Okay, hope you liked it. Please review!  
I'll try to update soon.  
~XxIgnorancexX~**


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay, sorry it's been like two months :P**

**Max POV**

You know when you spend the night somewhere that isn't your usual place and you awake with a start thinking "oh my God where the hell am I?" that's how I woke up when I heard a buzzing noise next to my head.

I looked around and registered. Beach. Fire. Friends. Right, I spent the night at the beach. I squinted in the early morning light, at least I think early morning. It was most likely some time after ten. I looked at my phone which was now covered in sand. Oops.

Someone was calling. I looked at the caller ID. It said _Dylan_. I sighed and answered it groggily.

"Hello?" I got up and walked away from the rest of the group so I wouldn't wake everyone up.

"Hey." He sounded annoyed.

"What's up?" I asked standing with my feet in the freezing water. As cold as the water was, it felt nice.

"Where are you?" He asked skipping right over my question.

"Beach." I said. Trying to pass on the "You just woke me up can you please hang up so I can go to bed" message.

"Beach?" He repeated.

"Beach." I repeated back.

"I thought you went yesterday…"

"We did. We spent the night." I explained.

"Who's 'we?'" He asked.

"Everyone who went." Now I was getting annoyed.

"And that would be…?" He persisted.

I sighed "Me, Iggy, Ella, J.J., Sam, and Fang." I paused slightly before saying Fang, I knew Dylan wouldn't like that.

"Why didn't you mention you guys planed on spending the night?"

"Because it wasn't planned, Sam just popped out sleeping bags and asked if we wanted to stay." I was really peeved now. He went to say more but I spoke first. "I gotta go, I need to help with breakfast." Which was a total lie, everyone was still fast asleep.

"Fine. See you later?" He asked still sounding annoyed.

"Yeah. Sure." I said blatantly.

"Alright. Bye. Love you." He said.

"Bye." I took the phone off my ear and stared at it before hanging up.

I took a few deep breaths and stared out at the pretty lake. The sun had risen, which was too bad because this place was gorgeous when the sun came up over the lake. Finally I realized my toes had been turned numb completely and decided to go lay back down.

I slid my feet into my sleeping bag, well Sam's technically, but whatever. I rolled over and saw Ella looking at me, worried.

"That's not good." She said.

"What?" I asked, even though I knew exactly what she was talking about.

"You know. You just don't want to admit it." She said solemnly and rolled over, and fell asleep.

I looked at the clear sky for a few minutes then buried my head under the sleeping bag and tried to fall back asleep. I felt tears swell up in my eyes, but they never fell.

Who knows how long it was. But I woke up to the smell of something amazing. Or maybe it was just the fact that I was starving. For all I know Iggy was being cooked and I would've just gone right along thinking it was some form of beef. But I doubt anyone would cook Iggy.

I threw the cover off my head and looked up at the fire to see something with food settled over the fire.

"She lives!" Sam called. They laughed. I scowled.

"How long have I been out?" I asked rubbing a tangled mess of hair out of my face.

"A while." Ella said with amusement, but the look she gave me said something else.

"Cool, what's cooking?" I asked.

"Eggs, sausage." Iggy said poking at the mesh of food.

"Yummy." I said licking my lips. It didn't look very appetizing, more like some mixed yellow stuff and something that looked like Lincoln Logs. Despite the look, it smelt amazing.

"Damn, mom and dad got lucky with you." Ella stated.

"How?" I looked at her.

"You'll eat _anything_." She said with amazement.

"So will you." Iggy laughed.

"Must be genetics." Fang guessed.

"Whatever it is, I'm okay with it." I smiled, forgetting about earlier this morning.

"Okay, grab plates." Iggy ordered. I picked up a paper plate and stuck it directly in front of Iggy to fill.

"Jeez, calm down. You'll get your food." He said as he served me some. He gave an equal amount to everyone (although I think he may have given himself a bit more, but he made them, I guess he deserves it)

We inhaled our food, it was a mix between really gross to watch and really amusing. But who cares?

This is us. We are we. No one can stop that. No matter how gross it may be.

**I'll try to update tomorrow. Midterms start then so I get out of school at noon, I can try to update one more before studying for the next days tests. Sorry this chapter is so short, next one will be longer.  
~XxIgnorancexX~ **


	5. Chapter 5

**So the forecast for my area says snow, snow, snow, if this is true there's a possibility for a snow day, meaning a whole day to write. But I have midterms (which I mentioned before) so I kinda need to study like mad so I can pass my algebra exam, so half of that day will be spent looking at math that for some odd reason has more letters for numbers. I hate algebra. Oh, and I just realized, the last line to the last chapter kinda rhymes, that was completely unintentional :)**

"You think we should get going?" Sam asked looking at his fancy schmancy watch, that's another thing about Sam. He's super technical. Has all sorts of computery stuff and knows how to do just about everything with any piece of equipment that involves some sort of battery or power source.

"Well, we _should _go home, but that doesn't mean we _want _to." I said spinning a pretty rock I found in the sand.

"It's almost two." Sam said.

"Hmmm…." Ella hummed, she sounded disappointed.

"Fine." Fang agreed.

"I guess our parents might be worried." J.J. pointed out.

"Let's pack!" I said rolling up my sleeping bag.

We all struggled trying to fit the giant bags into the tiny stuff sacks. Except for Sam. Ella made Iggy hold the stuff sack while she forcefully pushed the sleeping bag into it. J.J. had Sam do hers. Fang and I both sat in the sand and just put the bag in the stuff sack enough so it could be pushed in, grabbed the sack with both our hands and pushed the sleeping bag in with our feet. It was very useful.

As Sam packed all the camping stuff the rest of us started loading things into the back of his trunk where someone would soon be stuck.

We stood in a crappy half circle looking at the water for the last time this summer. Though we live in Arizona. We'd probably be back for winter break if Sam doesn't go to New York to visit his family again.

"Who gets trunk?" I asked and got six simultaneous "not me."

"Okay…" I thought then put my finger to my nose "Red!"

Everyone repeated, "Blue!" "Pink!" "Yellow!" "Green" "Plurple" Iggy called last and we all burst out laughing.

"Ig, hate to break it to ya, but plurple isn't a color." Ella told him, a huge smile on her face.

"I meant purple!" He defended.

"You said it last, so either way you're in the trunk…again." Sam seemed pleased.

"Fang did you say pink?" J.J. asked.

"Yeah…" He hesitated.

I put my hand to his forehead, "Guys, I think he's sick I think we should take him home. He's showing signs of Lisa. I think we need to take her away from him for a few days, or else he'll start wearing ridiculously short skirts" I said jokingly.

"Ew." Ella commented, "Don't need to see that. Fang, as great as you are, I really don't need to see your guy thigh."

"Shut up." He laughed pushing my hand off his face "You say crazy things when you're defending the possible permanent spine damage from that friggin' trunk." He paused. "And there is absolutely no way you'd get me to wear a skirt."

"Oh, "Lisa" isn't a choice, it's a disease, like chicken pox, you don't want the itch, but it happens anyways." Iggy said.

"Stop making fun of my girlfriend." He defended her, but only halfheartedly.

"Fine, fine. Let's go." I said loading myself into the car

"Did we ever use the fireworks?" Sam asked slowly turning around so he could get on the narrow dirt road.

"No…we never buried Fang either." Iggy said sounding disappointed.

"Next time?" I asked.

"Not the sandy part." Fang said.

I frowned. "You suck the fun outa everything."

The ride, only being 15 minutes went by quick. We discussed school, Sam and J.J. gave Fang, Iggy, and I tips for High School, told us all the teachers to watch out for. It was helpful. Every now and again we heard Iggy groan in pain from the back.

"Oh, and the performing arts program, and art in general, is huge, it's what we're known for, because as you know our sports teams suck." Sam pointed out. It was true, the performing arts was the money maker for Willcox High. Which was good, most of us crammed in this clown car had more to do with art than sports, other than Iggy. He does track as well.

We pulled into my driveway. We popped out into the fresh air again and went into my house and crowded around the island in the middle of my kitchen as I fished for snacks in my food pantry. We had no food (or no good food that didn't involve some long cooking process) in the house and parents weren't home, they must be shopping.

"I gotta pee." J.J. announced and headed for the bathroom.

"Thanks for sharing." Iggy said sarcastically.

A few minutes later she came out. She took her bag off the counter and dug in it, looking for something. "Hey Max, you gotta pad or tampon or something? I have…an issue." She said.

"Oh!" Iggy Fang yelled in discussed.

"Keep these things to yourself." Sam said wrinkling his nose.

"We don't need to hear about your…lady problems." He paused. "Hey you two wanna come over my place while the girls to their girly stuff?"

"Sure." Fang shrugged.

"Oh, it's not that bad, it's just –" I started.

"We don't wanna know!" Fang interjected.

"Fine, go, leave us to this so called "girly" stuff." I said rolling my eyes.

"See ya." They walked out the door arguing about something about killing each other in some form of war game.

"Remember Sam, you're my ride home!" J.J. yelled after him.

"Don't worry!" He called back.

"Come with me, I'll show you where I keep my "lady stuff."" I said mocking them.

**Fang POV**

We pulled into Iggy's driveway, even though we could have easily walked, he only lived three streets over.

Iggy unlocked his door and we headed right for his living room where his Xbox is.

"Anyone home?" He called out. No answer.

He put a disk in and turned towards me and Sam. "So what's up with you?" He asked nodding in my direction.

I was taken aback. "Me? Whataya mean?" I asked.

"You." He said plainly. "I thought you got over Max." What was he talking about?

"Yeah, I am." I lied.

"Not according to the way you told her you loved her when she was asleep. Sorry to tell you, but I was right next to you, still awake." He said like he'd been waiting to say it all day.

"Whoa, whoa, slow down." Sam said, "Since when did you even like Max in the first place?"

"It was obvious, he just wouldn't admit it." Iggy told him. Sam nodded his head in amusement.

"Lisa was a way to get over Max?" Sam asked.

"I did kind of like her, it's not like that was the only reason. Thought it would help, and it has." I defended myself.

"But not completely." Iggy finished.

"Yeah." I said picking up a controller signaling them to start playing and move away from the subject. It didn't work.

"So do you still like Lisa? Because lately it seems like you're that poor whipped kid in a relationship with the school bitch and you want to get out of it, but you don't." Iggy said. The sad part, he was kinda right.

"No, no, I do, it's just…different now." I said choosing my words carefully knowing they'd tare my words apart the second they find a hole in them.

"Because of Dylan?" Iggy asked. "You know she'd be way better with you. Dylan's been a real jackass lately and you know it. I don't think he's treating her the way she deserves"

I thought about this. He was right, Dylan has been a real asshole. "You're right." I said plainly

"I know I am. I think you should talk to her." Iggy said turning the game on. Ending the subject for now.

**Max POV **

The three of us sat in my room. J.J. was lying on my bed throwing a stress ball in the air above her for her amusement. Ella was sprawled on the floor looking through some old magazines she found in her closet she brought it. I was sitting in the spiny chair I had for my desk, doing what all spiny chairs are made for: spinning in circles until you feel you're about to throw up.

"Guess what I think." J.J. said out of the blue.

"That you're having a really fun time with that stress ball?" I guessed.

"No. I think you're in love with Fang." She said like it wasn't a big deal.

I stopped mid spin in complete horror. "What?" I demanded.

"You heard me. You love Fang. I know it." She sounded proud of herself for being so bold as to bring it up.

"I agree." Ella said not looking up from her magazine, "I know you are just by the way you guys react with each other, you're like a movie. He loves her, she loves him, neither of them know it, he's already with another her, she's already with another him. Total Hollywood."

"Yup." J.J. agreed "It's been obvious ever since you met each other. How he ended up with that whore and you ended up with that bastard I don't know, but you guys are meant to be."

I studied the ball J.J. continued to throw up and down.

I think they're right.

**Okay, I'll most likely update tomorrow**

**Please review!  
~XxIgnorancexX~**


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry this wasn't up yesterday, took longer to finish than I had expected. **

**Max POV**

I slowly opened my eyes to see J.J. sleeping next to me. Arms sprawled out, mouth wide open, hair would probably take a week to untangle.

I sat up to see Ella lying diagonally across the bed. How we managed to fit all three of us in my bed, I don't know.

Knowing they'd be up soon I went downstairs to start breakfast.

Taking out all the stuff for pancakes, I took out a bowl then remembered the last time I made pancakes ended up with something that looked and felt like a hockey puck, a ton of smoke, a very loud smoke alarm and four hungry teenagers.

I ran back upstairs and poked Ella until she woke up.

"What?" She said waving her hand to whack me away.

"I made pancakes." I said.

She sat up looking at me. "You did what?"

"Come see." I grabbed her hand an pulled her out of my bed. She followed groggily.

She looked into the kitchen, which you can see from most places on the ground floor. We have one of those open houses where the dining room, kitchen, and living room morph into one big room.

She walked in slowly. "Okay, I know you're not exactly a great cook, but you should know that eggs, flour, sugar, milk, and butter are individual things. Not a pancake."

"I am aware. I need you to help. I'll make the bacon and toast. You do the hard stuff." I knew she wouldn't say no.

She sighed "Fine." She washed her hands and went to work on the mixing and complex cooking…stuff.

I took some pieces of toast and put them in the toaster. Making sure to look in every now and again to make sure it didn't burn.

"Chocolate chips?" Ella asked holding up a bag of chips.

"Duh." I said popping the toast. Still not done.

A door opened own the hall and J.J. walked out looking tired. She had on a pair of my sweatpants and an oversized shirt…that was mine as well.

I smiled at her "Nice clothes." I said nodding my head toward her.

She looked down and smirked "Oh yeah, can I borrow some clothes?"

"Sure, you know where they are." I said popping the toast. "Success!" I yelled looking at the toast I had toasted perfectly.

"Did you ever tell Sam not to pick you up?" Ella asked stacking more pancakes.

"Yeah, I sent him a text that said "spending night at Max's, you can stay with idiot friends"" she read of her phone. "What's for eats?"

"Pancakes, eggs, bacon, toast." I answered cutting open the pack of bacon.

"Yum, you Ride's sure know how to do it." She said licking her lips. "Parents home?"

"Uh…" Are they?

"Here." Ella passed me a note mom must have written.

_Max & Ella - _

_ Emergency at the office, apparently a dog swallowed something and I need to take it out. Dad is out fishing with buddies, be home threeish._

_Mom _

_P.S. Tell J.J. to call her mom, she called last night to make sure she was here. _

"So your mom left to open up a dog?" J.J. asked looking a little queasy.

"Yup. Probably another tube sock." Ella guessed. "How do you like your eggs?"

"Scrambled." J.J. responded. "I better go call the parental unit." She got up and left the room and came back a minute later.

"Max, you're getting scrambled as well." Ella told me cracking eggs into a bowl.

"Alright with me. Ow." Bacon grease kept hitting me. "We've got some angry bacon."

"Well I'd be pretty mad too if you killed me and cut me into delicious strips just to fry for breakfast." J.J. said with a creepy grin on her face.

"So you get grossed out by our mother giving a dog surgery, but no problem thinking about the gruesome process of bacon?" Ella asked.

"One is a cute puppy, the other is food." She defended.

"One was once a cute little piglet." Ella fought back.

"Okay, can we please stop discussing the meat before I give it a name and face?" I said feeling sorry for it.

"Right. We're gonna wanna eat that…" J.J. said.

There was a moment of silence that was then ruined by a quick knock on the door and three people walking in.

Ella looked up and laughed "Hey look, the three stooges!" it was Iggy, Fang and Sam, "Just in time for breakfast. Max, we need more toast."

"On it." I popped more in the toaster.

"Gimme that." Iggy said taking the spatula from Ella and doing something to the batter. We don't know what he's doing, but we don't question him either. "Has Max touched this?" He asked looking at me.

"No. I put myself in charge of bacon and toast." I defended.

"Good. Don't burn it." Iggy will always be the first to criticize my cooking.

"I know, I know." I checked the toast.

"Why'd you guys stop by?" J.J. asked.

"We knew there'd be food." Fang answered picking up a piece of cooked bacon. I was just thankful it wasn't raw. Not that I've ever seen him do that, but if he was starving and that's all there was, I know he'd do it.

"And if there wasn't...?" Ella challenged him.

"Then we'd wait. Or Iggy would start, he knows where you keep all your food." At this point I was smacking his hand away whenever he reached for another piece of bacon.

"You know the sad part is that it's true." J.J. said "Sam, don't you have food at your house?"

"My parents went healthy, Max has the good stuff." Sam said.

"Whataya mean? This is all the same crap that your parents buy…" I said looking at all the stuff and for the first time realizing that my parents only buy the healthy stuff.

"You have real bacon. They get turkey bacon." He said picking up a piece of bacon like it was gold.

"Wow, that's awful." I said sarcastically. "Shit! Toast!" I ran back to the toaster and saw it was badly burnt.

"Seriously?" Ella asked coming over to look at it. "Max. Sit." She pointed to the stool next to Fang. "Fang, keep an eye on her. J.J., you make toast."

"My God, Max." Iggy said in disbelief. "Whatever you do, do not take the culinary class at school; you will burn the place down. If you want, let me teach you."

"We tried that, remember? I still have the burn mark and the scar on my finger when I accidentally sliced it open." I looked at my finger, and bent it. At least I have full mobility of it now.

Iggy laughed "Oh yeah, then we had to take you to the ER." He said pulling back the memory.

"Yeah, yeah. Thanks for the stitches buddy." I said remembering the incident.

"No problem." He said doing some weird flippy thing with a pancake. "So is that a no on the cooking lessons."

"Uh huh." I nodded my head.

A few minutes later Iggy announced that the food was done. There were many sighs of relief. Apparently the people had been hungry.

I took out six plates, forks, and knifes and passed them around the island. Luckily when we bought the house a few years ago, my mom made a mental note of me and Ella's friends, so she made sure to get plenty of stools for people to sit on.

I took a bite of the pancakes Iggy made and I swear to God an angel made them "Iggy, what the hell did you put in these?"

"Family secret." He said with an elfish grin.

I looked at Ella. "You better marry him and get that secret." I said in all seriousness.

"Whoa, whoa, we're fourteen, no offence Elle, but I'm not interested in marriage yet." Iggy said quickly spitting out eggs.

"Don't worry, no pressure." She said laughing.

"Don't forget kids, I want nieces and nephews, and a house, I wonder where your honeymoon will be…" I persisted just to annoy them.

"Ew, kids, I love kids but there is no way I'm squeezing something outa there." She said with a discussed look on her face.

"Can I be the godmother?" Ella and I are really close, but there's nothing like teasing a younger sister.

"Max, shut up!" She knew it too, and I knew she found it funny, because although she wanted to sound serious, she couldn't stop laughing.

"Hey, aren't kids a mutual decision, I want a million." Iggy looked worried

"Mutual decision? You wanna be the one popping out kids? You wanna go into labor? I think not." She said making everyone crack up.

"I guess if it were possible it'd be okay." He shrugged. I shuttered. Ew.

The house phone started ringing. "Excuse me." I said getting up to answer, still giggling.

_Dylan _read caller ID "Hello?" I asked trying to control my laughter.

"Hey!" He sounded like he was in a much better mood now than he was yesterday morning. "I was wondering if I could stop by for a minute."

"Uh…" I looked at my friends at the table "I have company right now…later?" I asked.

"It'll only take a moment, I promise, I have a surprise for you." I could almost see him getting on his bike now to ride over.

"Um…alright, if it's that important." I bit my lip worried about what he'd think when he got here.

"Awesome, see you in ten." He said and hung up.

"What's up?" Ella asked.

"Dylan said he wants to drop something off." I said not meeting her eye.

She looked disappointed, "How's he getting here?"

"Bike." I responded.

About ten minutes passed as we continued to tease each other and joke around when we heard a knock on the door.

"Fun time over." Ella said clearing some plates.

"COME IN!" I yelled, still confused as to why Dylan couldn't just come in like the rest of my friends.

"Hey," he walked over quickly and noticed the other people. "Um…hi." He said awkwardly. Responses weren't much.

"So, why'd you have to stop by?" I asked as he gave me a quick hello hug.

"Guess what I got us." He said looking like he was ready to explode with excitement.

"Um…what?" I said wondering what could have made us so happy.

"Tickets to the football game in November." He said showing me two tickets.

"Oh…wow…" I said trying to look and sound excited. If only I actually cared about sports.

"Oh, lucky you!" Ella said with pure distain in her voice.

"Um…wow…that's" I took a breath, "Awesome." I forced a smile, I didn't do a good job of it but he didn't notice

"I know, Sunday November 20 is when it is." My smile faded. He had completely forgotten the plans we had that day.

"Dylan, remember a few weeks ago, we talked about this, we had plans then." I looked at him hoping he'd remember.

"No we didn't." He said not realizing the look of hurt and disappointment in my face.

"Yeah we did, my Aunt Maria is getting married, you said you'd love to go with me." I was more than annoyed now, I was just plain pissed.

"Oh, right. I forgot about that…" He ran a hand through his hair.

"Clearly." I said harshly.

"I swear, I'll make it up to you." He said.

"Make it up to me?" I repeated. "You mean skip the wedding and go to your freaking game?"

"This is huge, we have to go." He said, the look on his face held way more annoyance than it should have.

"Then go." I almost yelled. "Find someone else to go with, but I'm _going _to that wedding."

He shook his head "Fine." And walked out the door, just as pissed as I was.

I didn't yell anything back I just sat up and cleared my plate forgetting that my friends were sitting right there looking at me in awe.

"Sorry about that." I said awkwardly. Hoping this could all just get put behind.

"Damn…" Fang said looking sorry, "He really is a jackass."

I didn't say anything; I just pursed my lips and avoided everyone's glance.

I think I was finally starting to see what they saw.

**Okay, sorry it took longer than expected, this chapter took a way different turn than I had originally planned on it taking when I started. **

**Please review! :) **

**~XxIgnorancexX~**


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry for not updating yesterday and the day before that, either I was studying like mad, dying my hair, or being distracted by Facebook. So I only finished part of the chapter. Another reason for my delay is the fact that it is absolutely freezing in my area, so I need to get our pellet stove working when I get home from school because it heats more than half of our house. So that can take me up to an hour alone. The pellet stove and I have this ongoing war, and so far, it is kicking my ass. **

**And did you guys hear? The first something chapters of ANGEL are up online. I haven't read them yet (because I am doing this) but I saved the link…I'll post it at the botom**

_It's been about a week since the last chapter took place, it's the first day of school for everyone. Wednesday September 1__st__._

You know you got a lot of sleep over the summer when your alarm clock goes off at 5:45 AM and you get up with no problem.

It was weird; I haven't been able to do that in years. Not sure if I should be happy, or freaked out over the fact that it's not even six AM and I'm perfectly fine.

I sat up in my bed, slid on my slippers, wrapped my blanket around me and went to the kitchen. It was empty.

This was even weirder because Ella was almost always up before me. So I went upstairs to her room to find her.

At this point I knew all the creaky steps and floorboards, so I made it up silently. There are four rooms on the upstairs floor. The master bedroom that my parents have, Ella's room, a bathroom, and a room that Ella and I used as a playroom when we were younger, now it's more like a dusty old room where we keep all our crap that we don't through out, but don't want lying around the house.

I slid her door open slightly to see her sprawled out on her bed, completely buried under blankets except for her feet. I tiptoed over and checked her alarm clock. It was set for 5:30, but she forgot to turn it on.

I backed up, then ran and pounced on top of her. She moved her hands around then pulled the blanket from off her face. She looked annoyed "Get up! Get up! Get up!" I yelled.

"Dude, it's so early." She said rubbing her eyes.

"Yeah, but your very first day of eighth grade starts today. Put it this way, it's your last first day of middle school. You should be thankful, middle school _sucks_." I explained to her trying to pull her out of bed.

"Can it be the last last day of middle school instead?" She asked.

"No. Go through eighth grade. Now get your butt outa bed!" I rummaged through her drawers and threw her clothes.

"Let's eat first." She suggested as she got out of bed and walked aimlessly to the door.

We got down and I turned on the coffee maker to make us both coffees. She looked through the cereal "Lucky Charms, Cocoa Puffs, or Raisin Bran?" She asked.

"Charms and Puffs." I responded getting the milk, bowls, and spoons.

"Both?" She asked looking at me funny as she poured herself the Cocoa Puffs.

"Yeah. Lucky Charms have the yummy marshmallows, but doesn't have give you chocolate. Cocoa Puffs has chocolate but no marshmallows. You do half-and-half and you get both." I explained.

"You really thought this through, didn't you?" Now she was looking at me even weirder.

"Remember when you went to camp for a month?" she nodded. "Remember when Fang went to Costa Rica with his family?" Another nod. "Dylan was in Texas, Iggy was at camp?" More nods. "That left Sam and J.J., who spent twenty-four/seven with each other." I explained. "This all happened at the same time. I got bored."

"So this is what you did. You experimented with cereal." She gave me a "you need help" look.

"No one was here! You try all your friends leaving you for three weeks! It's not easy." I defended myself.

"Well apparently you made friends with the leprechaun and the crazy bird." She teased.

I scowled at her, put my dish in the sink and went into my room to get dressed. I never pick out what I'm going to wear ahead of time. Simply because whatever I to pick out, I will change my mind about it in the morning.

I dug through my dresser and pulled out a pair of pants. A pair of dark skinny jeans, clean and simple. I may live in southern Arizona, so wearing pants is a little odd. But I rarely wear shorts during school. And I grew over the summer so my shorts don't really fit anymore.

Now for a shirt. I threw stuff around. Finally I settled on a loose white t-shirt with a panda on it. Ella found it when she was shopping and got it for me for my birthday. She said she thought it was cute, and she's right. When your mom's a vet, you learn to love animals of all kinds. Even our tiny yuppie dog Total.

I went into the bathroom and realized that my hair needed to be brushed. Badly.

My hair hasn't been shorter than my upper back in forever, I started keeping it long when I was about six. Now it was somewhere between my mid to lower back. I took the brush and started ripping it through my hair trying to get all the tangles out.

Washed my face, brushed my teeth, deodorant, you know the general morning routine.

I picked up my eyeliner that I had barely touched all summer and put a thin layer around the top and bottom of my eyes and a thin layer of black eye shadow on top. I keep it subtle, unlike some (alright, more than some…) of the girls in my class that look like they're part raccoon.

I checked the clock. It read 6:30. I still had another 20 minutes before I needed to leave.

The good thing about living where I do is the fact that we're last stop in the morning, so we can leave our houses the latest, but first on the way home, so we get home before everyone else.

The other plus of living in this neighborhood was that we're far enough from the school so that the bus has to pick us up, but close enough to walk if we want too. So in the morning I don't need to wake up early so I can get to school on time by walking, but on nice days I don't need to sit on a crowded bus on the way home.

Another plus was that Iggy and Fang are on my bus as well, so is Ella. Because the middle school is so close to the high school everyone from 6th to 12th are on the same bus schedule, the busses just split into waves, so half the high schoolers are dropped off first and half the middle schoolers are dropped off first.

I grabbed my bag. It was light, only containing a planner and a notebook. At freshman orientation they tell not to bring much because the teachers will tell us what they want on the first day.

The schedule was weird. We had seven, periods, each was 56 minutes long with four minutes to get to the next class, but only six periods a day. So my seventh period class, which was physical science, which I was told is basically chemistry and physics mashed into one, rotated. So On every "one day" I'd have science instead of period one. On a "two day" I'd have science instead of period two, and so on. Then on a "seven day" I had all my classes except for science.

I looked through my schedule once more

**Ride, Max ID: 3643 YOG: 2014 Grade: 09 **

**Locker C3081 : 12-14-40 Homeroom: C121 **

7:30 – 8:26: Period 1– Health **RM: C121 **Mrs. Berk

8:30 – 9:26: Period 2 – Chorus **RM: D149 **Mr. Robins

9:30 – 10:26: Period 3 – French 1 honors **RM: A328 **Mrs. Conrad

10:26 – 10:36: BREAK

10: 40 – 11:36: Period 4 –English **RM: C115 **Mrs. Stillman

11:40 – 1:01: Period 5 – History **RM: A300 **Mr. Ambrosino

1:05 – 2:01: Period 6 – Algebra **RM: A311 **Mr. King

Rotating: Period 7 – Physical Science **RM: C307 **Dr. Scannell

I liked this schedule. I knew how to find rooms; it was the same way as the middle school. The letter represented the wing, or area, A, B, or C, the first letter being the floor, first, second or third, and the last two being the room. It was the chorus room that confused me, I wasn't aware of the D-wing.

I've only actually been in the auditorium at the high school, in the back there's an entrance, you go down a set of stairs, and you're in the auditorium lobby, with the gym doors behind that. So that's all I knew. I didn't actually know where anything was. So that worried me.

Wait a second….where's lunch? They had to feed us, I know they feed us.

Where the hell was lunch?

I threw my bag over my shoulder and walked into the kitchen, and took an apple out of the bowl on the table. My mom and dad were up now.

"Max, you just ate." Ella pointed out.

"I know, but I don't see lunch on my schedule, so I better eat now just in case." I bit the apple, taking more than my mouth could fit.

"Honey, I highly doubt they wont feed you." Mom tried to calm me down.

"I know, but still, I don't know when it is, for all I know it's at the very end of the day. Or maybe they made a mistake in my schedule, and I don't eat lunch." Now I was worried.

"Then wouldn't there be a blank spot in your schedule?" She asked.

I tried to think of another reason…but couldn't think of anything.

Ella laughed at my paranoia "We should go out and wait."

Our mom gave us both hugs, took a picture, you know, the annoying "my daughter's are growing up" thing a lot of parents do on the first day of any school year.

Dad just smiled, held her back, and wished us luck.

"Is anyone else going to be here?" I wondered out loud

"Um…I think there's a few sixth graders, but the last few people graduated and are now at some college we don't know the name of…" Ella responded, unsure of herself.

And sure enough a kid I remember living in the house a few down from us shows up. "This is for the middle school right?" She asked nervously.

"Yup." I said smiling at her, "It's Cassie, right?" I think she showed up at our door once selling Girl Scout Cookies. She nodded.

"I'm Max, this is Ella." I said pointing to Ella who waved. She waved back.

A few minutes later the bus showed up. Fang and Iggy saved seats for us, and there was Nudge sitting in front of him.

"Hey! Nudge, I didn't know you started sixth grade today." I sat next to Fang. I always liked Nudge, was a little mature for her age, hell, she was probably more mature than I was. Definitely more mature than Iggy.

"Mmmhhmm." She nodded.

"You excited?" I asked.

"I heard middle school isn't fun." She frowned.

"It is, I mean, it's not the _greates_t time, but you'll still have _loads_ of fun." I put on a convincing smile, not going to tell her that I hated junior high.

The ride was only a few minutes. Fang and I had four classes together, health, chorus, science, and history. Iggy was in health and science with us, and in my math class as well. This was good, I'm not very good at science, but Iggy's a freaking _genius _when it comes to science, especially chemistry. He knows more about elements, compounds, and reactions than anyone I've ever met.

Having health with him is good too, he'll be sure to make the class more amusing.

"Okay guys listen up!" The bus driver came on the intercom, "I drop and pick up the high school first, junior high seond." She pulled into the high school bus area and opened the doors "Have a great first day!"

Fang and I exchanged a look. Here we go.

**I'm still working on what I'll do for the next chapter, when I do I will update as soon as I can.  
**

**Here's the link to ANGEL if you don't already have it: /jamespatterson/docs/angel_bookone_cover**

**Please review!**

**~XxIgnorancexX~**


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry for not updating, school has been super busy, I don't get home until around sixish, then I have homework and all that stuff. So I get to now, during the Glee marathon. Anyone watching it? I found it on the Oxygen channel. They just played the Rocky Horror episode, one of my favorites. **

Fang, Iggy, and I entered the school reluctantly, we looked back at the bus, to see Ella waving and giving us a thumbs up.

"Now what?" I asked.

"Lockers?" Iggy guessed.

"What's to put in them? We don't have jackets, we only have a few notebooks and things to write with us today…" I said as we walked up the steps leading to the lobby. I mentally took note that the library was directly to the left of the lobby.

"True…what's that?" Fang asked pointing to a sign.

We read it. In big letters it said "WELCOME ALL FRESHMAN! PLEASE REPORT TO THE AUDITORIUM" with an arrow pointing to the left. To the left was the library, but just past that there was a hallway going to the left. I took out my phone and checked the time.

"Well, we have twenty minutes to get there before school starts. We might as well try going that way." I suggested.

We exchanged looks and decided we would check it out. Sure enough the hallway lead us to the auditorium lobby, we went through the big set of double doors to see a bunch of other kids from our grade standing around talking.

A student, probably part of some welcoming committee, came up to us. "Hi! Welcome to Willcox high school!" She was pretty, had long, light brown hair, glasses, seemed nice, but over excited, though I assumed that was part of her job, as she was welcoming a bunch of scared little freshmen. "Here are some information packets that might come of use, it includes the basic rules, a map of the school, the bus routines, et cetera. All of it will be covered in the orientation you're about to see." She smiled sweetly.

"Um…thanks." I said returning the smile, leafing through the thick packet.

We went on our way and stood in a corner. I looked through the map of the school, the school seemed well organized, not as big as it seemed through the outside. Three distinct wings stood out. The C-wing was for the science department, A-wing was for history and foreign language B-wing belonged to English and Math, with a few exceptions of scattered classrooms here and there.

"Found the D-Wing." Fang announced, then showed me that if we had just kept going straight down the hallway that brought us the auditorium lobby, just go past the lobby and you hit a hallway that goes down, then branches off to the left, behind the gym, where the band, orchestra, and chorus rooms where, then another branch to the right, where there was a storage room, a small computer lab, and a room for theater, right behind the stage.

About fifteen minutes later a bell rang. This was cue for all of us to go find a seat. At this point Dylan had found me and Lisa found Fang. Iggy just stood there awkwardly as tension rose high, especially after the little episode Dylan and I had in our kitchen last week. We hadn't talked about it much, we hadn't really talked at all. I was avoiding him mostly.

We sat in a line in the third row of seats. Iggy sitting between Fang and I, relieving a little tension in one way, but in the clear way of why he sat between us causing a bit more to come up.

"Welcome all, class of 2014!" A man spoke, I assumed either principal or vice principal. He spoke more about the goals of Willcox.

He went through the whole packet, on how we had four minutes between each class, you can only be late to a class, unexcused, three times before debts and detentions started to be handed out.

Finally he got to lunch. What I was really waiting for, "you're lunch period depends on your fifth period class," he started, "Your teacher will tell you if you have first, second, or third lunch. If you have first, you will go from forth period, to lunch, to fifth period. If you have second you will go to fifth, about halfway through there will be a break for lunch, then you go back to fifth period for the second half of class. If you have third, you will go to fifth, lunch, then right to sixth. Any questions?" He asked. Nothing.

"Alright" The principal, whose name is Mr. Pallidino, continued, "When the bell rings you will all have about ten minutes to go find your lockers and get used to the combination, when the bell rings again you will go to your first period class. Remember that for today you will see all seven of your classes, so all the classes are shortened, you will go to seventh after first, then continue on in the order of your schedule." Everyone exchanged looks and nods. "Alright, have a great first day and enjoy the next four years at Willcox."

I sighed, "What's your locker number?" Dylan asked.

I looked at my schedule "C3081." I said. "Yours?"

"C2053" He said "Guess we aren't very close to each other." I nodded my head, not really listening.

The lockers went alphabetically by grade, each grade had a separate section of the school, apparently our class had third and second C-wing and some of third floor B-wing. We have these lockers all four years, after we graduate, the next group of incoming freshman get our old lockers.

Because my last name was Ride, and Dylan's was Alcoskery, we were always at opposite ends, Fang's last name was, Tean his was fairly close to mine, Iggy's last name was Keeler, so he was on the same floor, I think his locker was part of the B-wing. The good thing being that the sophomore area wasn't far off from ours, so J.J.'s locker was right around the corner from mine.

Then the bell rang and we hesitantly left the auditorium to go to our lockers.

Dylan and I walked up the stairwell together until we hit the second floor where we said goodbye, and joined with Iggy and Fang as Iggy was telling him something about how awesome our senior prank will be with his plan. I didn't ask.

The lockers were all half lockers, so some of us, including me, had the disappointment of getting the news that we had a bottom locker.

The good news was that because instead of going alphabetically up down, up down, it went across the top then across the bottom, so by the time the "T's" came around, Fang was above me and over by one

We got to the lockers, mine opened easily, Fang had some trouble with his, but got it open after a few tries. Luckily bottom lockers went by every other student to keep more space, so fitting in with everyone made it easier, but definitely not easy.

Not soon after the bell for first class rung.

Fang and I got up and found our way to our first class: health.

Iggy was already there and motioned us to sit near him in the groups of four the teacher had set up around the classroom

Mrs. Berk was nice. At least from her introduction to the class, she seemed to take the awkward subject of health that mainly focused around sex, drugs, and alcohol, and make it interesting. She had a good sense of humor, she was young, and made the fact that I had health first period a little better.

After that we went to science. Dr. Scannell looked stern, but seemed nice once she started talking. "See these seats?" She said, "Where you're sitting now is where you will be the rest of the year, the person next to you is your lab partner.

Fang sat next to Lisa, who apparently was in this class too, and I was next to Iggy. I wasn't sure if this was good or bad. As great as he was with science, being his lab partner could be scary.

After that Fang and I went to Chorus, J.J. was in that class too. We all knew Mr. Robins, he teaches at the middle school as well. He was short and full of energy, by far my favorite teacher, and he loved Fang and I. He was also the only teacher who called Fang, Fang. Every other teacher called him by his real name, Nick, but Robins has known us since we started singing in fourth grade, he often would come and help out with the upper elementary chorus.

Every other class was basically the same, attendance was done, the teacher would give their name, about the class, and the materials we would need.

I liked all my teachers, they all had a good sense of humor for the most part, they all seemed petty young, and I had a much better feeling about high school.

My fifth period teacher told us we had third lunch. Meaning we ate last. Meaning I would have to wait all day to eat. This wasn't the greatest news I had gotten.

Fang and I had lunch together because we had the same fifth period class, J.J. was there as well with Sam. And Dylan showed up too. J.J. looked annoyed but hid it, and we all sat together peacefully. Dylan even made an effort to be nice to Fang.

"Today was nothing. Wait until they start giving us work." Fang said as we got on the bus.

"It'll take a while to get used to after a whole summer of absolutely nothing." Iggy added.

Naturally when we got to our bus stop, Iggy and Fang followed Ella and I to our house.

The thing we weren't expecting was to see my mom taking sheets of cookies out of the oven.

"Hey! How was your first day?" She asked, he face lit up.

"Um…fine…shouldn't you be at work?" I asked.

"Yes, but I took the day off today to welcome you home." She said, Ella and I gave her skeptical looks.

"We went to school for six hours. Not France for six weeks." Ella said dropping her bag and picking up a cookie.

"You made these?" Iggy asked taking a bite. She nodded. "I'm impressed." He said chewing slowly, examining the cookie.

"You like them?" She asked, pleased.

"Very much, not to much of anything. Perfect." He said approvingly.

"Iggy thinks they're perfect?" Fang asked raising his eyebrows, "Wow, they must be some damn good cookies."

**Okay, sorry that was short and mostly talking, not much humor or dialogue. The next chapter will be better.**

**And I have a question. Is it normal for there to be thunder and lightning after a bunch of snow storms in the middle of winter in the north? Because I think that just happened, either that or I've gone nuts.**

**Please review!  
~XxIgnorancexX~**


	9. Chapter 9

**February break is all this week, I'll try to update as much as possible, but I need to do a bunch of stuff for the school musical (yes, even over break they demand that we work).**

**I hope this doesn't annoy anyone, but I have some ideas I want to put out, but I need to fast forward to get these idea's out (which will likely be big points in the story) so now it's the end of October, and will probably be going fast for a while. Sorry if this bugs anyone…**

We all sat down after doing the Pledge of Allegiance and waited for the morning announcements.

I never listened to them, but then one thing caught my ear. _Art contest._ I think that was what whoever speaks in the morning said.

I looked at Fang, he gave me a look, just by the expression on his face I knew I had heard art.

I stopped doodling in my notebook and listened _"…the annual art contest is coming up, the first round of submitted work is due in three weeks, on Friday, November 12. You must sign up by Friday, October 28. For more details see Mr. Bays in the art room D2…" _

Then I zoned out. I was busy thinking. I heard the guy talking mention homecoming dance, but I couldn't care less about that.

I had heard about this contest, I remember hearing about it when I was eleven, but realized it was for grades 9-12 only.

I knew there was an art museum in Phoenix that had a whole room dedicated to the year's winners, the art was displayed throughout the room, then replaced with the next years winners. Basically the prize was your art being displayed for a whole year in the Phoenix Art Museum.

There are eight districts in Arizona, three students are chosen from each district, as far as I knew.

I tried to look at my chances. Eight districts, three from eight districts, that was 24 winners. Only three from my district. The odds are low. But it gave me an excuse to do something artsy and ruin the house with paints again.

I leaned over my desk toward Fang who sat directly across from me. "Whataya think?" I asked.

"About the contest?" He asked. I nodded. "Sounds interesting, you think you're going to go for it?"

"Probably. Sounds like fun. You?" I asked, giving my "pretty, pretty please" smile that never fails

"Yeah, depends on what they allow. Wanna go talk to Mr. Bays after school?" He asked. I nodded, excited that he was doing it with me.

I was more of a painter, I liked drawing, sculpting, pottery, I liked stuff that involved hand movement. Fang liked photography more, but can do some pretty amazing things with charcoal.

The rest of the period I was in a daze, trying to figure out what I was going to do, when I'd have the time, and how far I would get in the competition, and what kinds of art they allowed.

I've been to that section of the museum a few times, we live a while from Phoenix, but on the rare occasion that we do visit, I ensure we visit the museum.

I've seen all sorts of paintings, with many different kinds of paints on various levels, so I was pretty sure paint would be allowed.

But what if they changed it every year? What if I needed to settle for one of my weaker sides?

This ran through my mind the whole hour. I absentmindedly took notes, just copied down what was on the power point, not really paying attention. I figured that 1. It was health, it wasn't hard. I could easily just google some stuff and get the same results. In a much more crude manor, but still. And 2. Iggy is a master in health. He could explain it to me. The only issue is that he still finds the sex ed part of it hysterical.

After some tiny, crappy, rough sketches on the side of my notes the bell rang. I jumped a little, not realizing an hour had already gone by.

"You get any of that?" Fang asked packing his bag nodding towards my notebook.

"Uh…don't do drugs…they can kill you." I said.

He smirked. "We talked about media influences." He said.

"Then…" I thought. "Then watch out, those sales people are tricky little bastards."

"Yeah, that's exactly what we learned." He rolled his eyes.

All day I had been anticipating talking to Mr. Bays. By the end of the day I had a list of ideas I had come up with at various points during the day.

Fang and I packed up and rushed to the art rooms. The were three hallways that branched off of the "D-wing" hallway. One was for the band, chorus, and orchestra rooms, before that had all the art rooms, then opposite to that there was the hallway that was directly behind the stage, where all the actor people ran around during shows. Along the side of the big main hallway, on the right side had two doors leading into the side of the auditorium. One in back and one to the stage.

I peaked through the cracked open door and saw Mr. Bays picking up some supplies. "Excuse me? Mr. Bays?"

"That's my name." He said giving a friendly smile. "What ya here for?" He asked and motioned us in.

He was a young teacher, mid to late twenties, I assumed.

He had helped out at the other schools a few times last year, I remember him being laid back and really entertaining.

"Hi, I'm Max Ride." I said awkwardly.

"And I'm Fa –" he paused "Nick…Tean." Fang's actual name being Nick, but no one really calls him Nick, teachers do, but some teachers catch on. How he got the nickname, I don't really know, but it caught on.

"Fnick?" Mr. Bays asked.

"Uh…Nick…" He almost continued with the reason as to why he almost said Fang, but stopped.

"So what can I help you two with?" Mr. Bays asked friendlily.

"We're here about the upcoming art contest." I explained.

"Ah, have we a few aspiring artists?" He asked.

Fang and I exchanged a look and shrugged. "I guess…" Fang said for the both of us.

"Not quite sure yet I assume…" He said as he walked over to the desk and grabbed some papers. He gave one to both Fang and I, and kept one for himself.

"This first page is just details, deadlines, due dates, where to submit, et cetera." He explained showing us. "Next is regulations, how big each piece of art can excel to, what is not allowed in your artwork." He flipped the page. "This is for your parents to fill in, simply saying that you're allowed to enter into the contest, and you sign saying that you understand the regulations. This next page is for you to fill out, it's optional, but highly recommended that you put it in with your work. It's simply what inspired you to do what you did, your process. All very simple." He smiled and closed the packet signaling that that was it.

"Awesome, thanks." I said getting more excited.

"Any questions?" He asked.

"Yeah, are there any forms of art that aren't allowed?" I asked.

"No, if what you had in mind isn't on the list, come see me and I can tell you. It's all you, you can do whatever you want, as long as it follows everything." He said.

"Great." Fang said flipping through the packet again.

"What kind of things do you do?" Bays asked.

I looked at Fang, he spoke first. "Uh, charcoal drawings, photography, pencil sketching…" He said.

"Oh nice, charcoal, huh? We don't get many of those around here, good for you." He said. "What about you…Max, right?"

"Yeah, Max." I confirmed "Painting, mostly. Pottery, pencil sketches…" I trailed off.

"Painting?" He asked. I nodded. "Do you draw it out first, or do you start with paint?" He asked.

"No. I just paint. I don't like drawing it out first." I said.

"Detail or messy painter?" He continued.

"Both, but I prefer detail." I answered.

"Impressive." He said admiringly.

"You any good?" He asked with a smirk.

"Uh…I guess, not great." I said. I hated these kinds of questions.

"Are you being modest?" He asked.

"Yes. She's _very_ good." Fang answered for me.

After school Dylan and I met up at the ice cream parlor in the middle of both our houses. I was late getting there because Fang and I missed the bus because of staying after with Mr. Bays.

When I slowly turned my bike into the small parking lot I saw Dylan sitting at a table outside.

I rode up next to him "Hey." I said as I hopped off my bike and letting it drop on the grass.

"Got you your favorite." He said nodding toward the ice cream sitting across from him.

"One scoop cookie dough, one mint chip, one moose tracks?" I asked.

"Yup." He said taking a bite of his own.

"Ah, yes. Thank you thank you thank you." I said digging right in.

"So you get Scannell's report done yet?" He asked. Dr. Scannell was our science teacher. She was nice, but hard on work. We had a huge lab report due next week.

I sighed. "No, I'm going to ask Iggy for help, I don't get chemistry."

He laughed. "Having her second period is a pain, its too early and too confusing."

"I bet, she confuses me even in the end of the day."

We talked about school, how it's been. Then there was a few minutes of an easy silence.

I licked my spoon and tried to control myself. I was going to try and control my excitement about the contest, but I couldn't help myself. "So you hear about that art contest?" I asked smiling.

"Oh yeah, that stupid thing." He said not looking at me. My smile faded. "What about it?" He asked.

"Nothing much…just was going to tell you that I signed up." I said pursing my lips.

He looked at me, surprised. "You did?" He asked.

"Well, I will, I have the papers. Just have to fill them out." I said.

"Really?" I nodded.

"Why?" He asked, giving me a "what the hell" look.

"Why not?" I shot back.

"Wouldn't it be a waste of time, are you sure you can make the deadline?" He asked.

"Waste of time? Hell no. As far as a deadline goes, I'll be fine. I have three weeks." I crossed my arms over my chest.

"What if you don't make it? Won't it be a waste?" He asked.

"Are you saying I can't do it?" I asked, looking at him in complete shock.

"Well…no, I just mean, with the short amount of time and all." He sputtered out.

"That's not what I asked. You think I can't do it, don't you?" I persisted, getting really pissed off.

"That's not what I said." He defended.

"That's not what I asked." I shot back through clenched teeth.

He didn't answer.

I lowered my voice and shook my head. "You really don't think I can do it." I said.

"That's not what –" he started, but I stopped him. "Not what you said? You don't have to say it. It's clear. You don't think I have the talent." I said plainly.

"Max, that's not what I meant. Come on, let's just finish up, we'll talk about something else." He said, trying to move on.

"Save it." I said standing up, putting my things in my pockets.

"Max-" he started.

"You just made it clear that you don't think I have the capability. And even if you do think that, you don't have to say it, at least give me some hope!" I was nearly yelling.

"I was just being honest." He said.

"You want honesty?" I spat at him. "I'll give you honesty. You're being a really shitty boyfriend, and I'm sick of it."

"Max, don't you think you might be overreacting?" He said.

"Thanks for the fucking support." I said, jumped on my bike and rode away. Tears stinging in my eyes.

**Okay, hoped you liked it. I'll try my best to at least start the next chapter tomorrow. I probably won't be able to finish it, but who knows.**

**Please review!  
~XxIgnoracexX~**


	10. Chapter 10

**I wont be able to update next week, I'll try my hardest, but the chances of me getting home before nine are slim, then I have all my homework. I apologize for this. **

I threw my bike on the side of the front lawn and walked inside, slamming the door behind me.

"Hey Max." Ella said from the couch. I grunted a hello.

"Hey honey!" My mom called. I didn't respond.

Gazzy and Angel where sitting at the kitchen table eating some sort of sandwich. I said hi, grabbed a water bottle

"Their parents went away for the night, so we're watching them." She explained as I walked down to my bedroom. "Max you okay?" She asked.

"Just super." I said sarcastically as I walked into my bedroom.

She knocked on the door a few minutes later. She cracked it open and stood in the doorway.

"Max, what's wrong?" She said, looking concerned.

"Nothing. I'm fine." I lied.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" She asked.

I shook my head. "Not now." She gave me a look, but knowing better she shut the door and left.

* * *

**Third person:**

Ella watched Max storm into her room in shock. _What just happened?_ She thought to herself.

She went through what Max had told her this morning.

_Dylan_. It came to her. She said she was seeing Dylan right after school? Right? She looked at the clock. It was three thirty. That would be it.

What he do this time? She jumped up and bolted to her room and jumped online to see if J.J. was anywhere to be found. Ella's phone picked a bad time to die on her.

She checked Skype. She was on.

**Ella: GET OVER HERE **_**NOW**_**!**

**JJ: What? Why? What's wrong?**

**Ella: Max came home from being with Dylan. She's pissed. **

**JJ: Be over in a sec. should I pick up anything?**

**Ella: Yes. Three pints of ice cream.**

**JJ: Three? What kind?**

**Ella: One for each of us**. **Whatever they have. Just make sure there's a bunch of shit in it, like peanuts and chocolate chunks and stuff like that. It's her favorite. How are you going to get here?**

**JJ: Just got my permit. I will be there ASAP.**

They both signed off. Ella went to the kitchen and found three spoons, whipped cream, sprinkles, and chocolate syrup. Bowls weren't needed.

After searching the cabinets for caramel, J.J. barged into the room with a bag from the local grocery store.

"Alright, where is she?" She asked pulling out three pints. One Rocky Road, one Moose Tracks, and one Phish Food. Then a bag of assorted candy.

"Awesome. Thanks. This'll help." Ella said.

"Whoa!" Gazzy said looking at all the food.

Ella opened the bag of candy and put a handful in front of the kids, "Here. Go nuts." They loaded the food onto a tray, and went to Max's room.

* * *

**Max's POV.**

I heard the door creak open. "Max?" I heard someone. I ignored them.

Someone sat on the bed. Then another person. Wait. Two? Ella…and? No one else was home right? I wanted to know who person #2 was. But I held it in and just closed my eyes and pretended they weren't there.

"Maxie." It was Ella's voice. "Max, please talk to us." I didn't move. "We've got ice cream."

My eyes opened. No. No. No. Do not let food be the only reason you get up.

Ella leaned over, put something on my nose. Then, boom, whipped cream all over my face.

I shot up. "Whoa!" I started licking and wiping my face.

"Knew that'd get you up." She smirked. Then turned serious a split second later. "So what's up?"

I sighed. "You probably already figured it out. Gimme that." I reached for a spoon and a thing of ice cream.

"Well, yeah." J.J. said. "But we only know the cause. What'd that douche do?"

"He's not a douche." I defended.

"Yes he is." Ella said.

"Yeah, he kinda is." I agreed.

"See! Even _you_ think so. And you're his freaking girlfriend." J.J. said.

"Everyone has relationship issues." I tried to defend.

"Not like this." She had a point. Damn it.

I sighed and took a big spoonful. More that could ever fit into my mouth.

"So…what happened?" Ella asked.

I took a deep breath. "I overreacted, it's nothing, maybe I'm just hormonal or something."

"Just explain. We decide if you're hormonal." J.J. laid down on her stomach and gave me a sincere look.

"You know that art contest?" They both nodded. "I told him I signed up. He told me it was stupid. I told him it wasn't. He asked why. I said because I wanted to. He said I wouldn't be able to do it. I said I could. I got mad. I left. The end."

"So…he got mad at you for entering the contest?" Ella asked.

Then I realized how bad it sounded when she put it like that. "Yeah…" I said quietly.

"That's not good." J.J. said plainly. I nodded.

"Whataya gonna do?" Ella asked.

"I don't know." I shook my head. "Maybe I'll talk to him about it…see if it was just a misunderstanding…"

"And if it's not?" J.J. continued.

"Then we'll see." I chewed on my lip. How pathetic was I really being? Was I really just overreacting? Or was it just that he really is a shitty boyfriend?

"You know you could be doing _much _better." Ella pointed out. J.J. nodded in agreement.

"Probably…" I admitted.

"Even you think so." J.J. said with sympathy. "That's. Not. Good." She repeated.

"It's not." I said. I was thinking hard. Was it worth it? I tried to think of the last decent conversation Dylan and I had that didn't lead to some sort of argument or one of us walking away pissed. Over the last six months? Very few.

"J.J?" I asked. "What did you see when we started dating?"

"You mean how did I feel? What I saw and thought was going on?" I nodded. "Well…it started out okay; he was new and didn't have a reputation, so I thought it was great. Then every time I called, you said you had plans with him. Then he got jealous of you being friends with Fang. Then you changed. Then you seemed unhappy. Then I hated him."

"What do you mean I changed?" I asked. I haven't changed. I've stayed the same. If I have changed it's because of me, not him.

Ella got up and walked over to my closet. She started throwing stuff out on the floor. "What are you doing?" I asked. She didn't reply until she came out.

"See this pile of clothing?" She asked. I nodded, confused. "These are the things you _loved_. You stopped wearing these soon after you and Dylan stopped dating."

"That proves nothing." I said.

"Well, I happen to know he hates this kind of stuff." She tossed me some pants.

I looked at them. All of my crazy ripped, paint splattered jeans. The black torn skinny jeans I love. The white jeans that have different colored paints all over them, the jeans J.J, Ella and I spent hours writing our favorite song lyrics on.

I looked through the pile of clothing. I frowned. Had Dylan really caused me to change this much with me being the only one not realizing it?

The fact that it took me this long to realize it disappointed me. I thought I was stronger than that.

I smiled. "You know I wanted to dye my hair. He said no."

"He what?" Ella asked in doubt,

"That jackass." J.J. said.

"Yeah. I told him I wanted to cut it short and put dye in it. He told me I wouldn't like it, so I didn't do it." I explained. "I'm going to go get some hair dye."

"Now?" Ella asked.

"Why not?" I asked. "I've been to afraid to do so many things. I'm going to accomplish these things, then when I go to school on Monday…"

"He will have a total freak out." J.J. finished. I smirked. '

"Then what?" Ella asked.

"I'll probably break up with him." I decided. "It'll be nice to be free again."

"Good for you." J.J. said. I could tell they were both relieved.

I grabbed my wallet ready to go find a place that sold hair dye. I guessed Newbury Comics, I think I've seen it there before.

"How we gonna get there?" J.J. asked. "I have my permit, but I can't legally drive you two."

"Bus?" I guessed.

"Sure." They agreed.

Then that's when we heard the big _BABOOM _from the kitchen. We exchanged nervous looks before running out into the kitchen.

Iggy and Gazzy sat next to each other, their eyes wide in shock, hair blown up.

"What the hell did you do?" I yelled as I ran over to make sure Gazzy was okay.

"Um…little accident with an explosive." Iggy said.

"Explosive?" Ella asked, worried.

"Only minor." He said.

J.J. scoffed. "Only." She repeated.

"Max, guess what?" Gazzy asked in excitement.

"What, honey?" I wiped some soot from his face.

"Iggy taught me how to make a stink bomb, and showed me how to set off a firework. We're gonna do that tonight." He sounded ecstatic.

"Super." Ella said sarcastically. "Iggy found an explosive buddy."

"I love this kid." Iggy said, grinning ear to ear.

**Okay. Last chapter for at least a week. Again, sorry for the crazy schedule I have. **

**Please review! **

**~XxIgorancexX~**


	11. Chapter 11

**Oh, my God. I am so sorry for not updating in…a month? Almost two? I don't know, but either way I am so sorry. My schedule has been so ridiculously busy, so in the free time that I do have, I don't feel like writing.**

**Oh, and to the person that asked what a pellet stove is, I mentioned it about four chapters ago, it's almost like a fireplace, but more self sufficient. There are these wood pellets we load into the back of the stove and it feeds them into the fire gradually and heats up your house**

"Alright." I said throwing away a beaker that they had almost completely melted. "The three of us are going somewhere. We shouldn't be long." I looked at Iggy. "Please. Please. _Please. _Do not make anything else explode. If you want to make something, teach the kids how to make brownies, or cake, anything that _will not explode_."

He sighed. "Damn. Why don't you just take away my natural rights?"

"Ig." Ella said. "Please? Teach them how to make that lemony tart I love so much." She smiled her sweet little smile.

"Okay." He was like putty in her hands.

"Thank you. Let's go. Bye kids." I yelled as we shut the door behind us.

"So where we going exactly?" J.J. asked.

"I think we decided on the mall, the bus has a stop right at it, so we just need to walk around the corner to the bus stop." I said as I directed ourselves in the right direction. She nodded indicating that she understood.

About fifteen minutes later we hit the stop. "Max…I thought you said it was right around the corner?" J.J. asked.

"It is…" I replied, confused.

"That was almost a mile." She said.

"Close enough." I shrugged. Apparently she disagreed.

"Well, it doesn't matter, bus'll be here soon." Ella chimed in.

"Yay." This satisfied her, and Ella was right. The bus showed up within the first five minutes we where there. I showed the bus pass Ella and I use, and J.J. showed the bus driver hers. Even though this wasn't the busiest part of the state, everyone had a bus pass, and a lot of people took the bus. As far as the students, everyone used the bus until they got their license and access to a car.

It surprised me to see that that bus wasn't very full; this time of day was usually commute time on a Friday. We must be right before it. We'd have to be careful of when we left. It sucks when you get on and realize that every other member of the community decided to take the same bus at the same time.

"Can we not go into the pet store?" J.J. asked.

"Why would we go there?" I asked.

"Because any pet store in any mall makes me sad." She explained. "They don't treat the animals right, locked up in those cages. It makes me wanna take them all home."

"That's true." Ella said. "Mom cries every time she goes in there." This was true, she does. It's sad, but somewhat funny at the same time.

The bus stopped ten minutes later and we got off.

J.J. checked her phone. "It's almost four thirty…how long do you think we'll be?" She asked.

"Not long, unless you guys want food or want to look around or anything." I said. We came for hair dye…and anything else interesting.

"Okay, I've got a date with Sam at six …" She said, just remembering.

"Oo la la." Ella said wiggling her eyebrows.

"Fine. I guess Ella will have to dye my hair all alone." I said knowing she'd react.

"No! Please don't. Wait until tomorrow? Please? Pretty, pretty please, with a cherry on top?" She jumped giving a pouty look.

I laughed. "Fine, but Ella should bleach it tonight so it's all ready for tomorrow."

"That's a good idea. I hate the smell of bleach. Ha! I miss the bad part!" This cheered her up, she grabbed both our hands and pulled us in the right direction.

J.J. practically lived in Newbury Comics. She knows where everything is, so when we got there she went right to a shelf in the back that had dye.

"There's two brands, Manic Panic and Special Effects. They both work well, but it depends on your hair, so this is just an experiment for now." J.J. explained looking at colors.

Ella took some of my hair and examined it. "I'm thinking red. Pink, maybe."

J.J. passed me a box of something. "What's this?" I asked.

"Bleach." She said. "Ella, be careful when doing this. Wear gloves. Try not to get it on skin."

"Okay…how long does it stay in?" She asked.

"Um…maybe we should wait until I can bleach it…" J.J. suggested.

"Why? I'm sure Ella can do it." I said.

"Yeah, but you need to be careful. If it stays in too long, your hair could fall out." J.J. said.

"Right. Don't want that. You do it." I put the box down.

After about ten minutes of them holding color samples to my head and discussing it like it was some big law suit that needed to be settled, we decided on a color. It surprised me, but pink. A hot pink. It was also decided to do streaks, not my whole head because if I didn't like it, color stripper is a pain in the ass.

"Hold on." I said. "I want to look at some CDs" I said before they stood in line.

I browsed slowly for a few minutes before I remembered. I went to the "P" section.

Then I found it: Panic! At the Disco. One copy left. I picked up the newest album, _Vices & Virtues._

"Didn't they break up?" Ella asked, looking over my shoulder.

"Kind of. Brendon and Spencer stayed to manage the band, just came out with this…the other two left and formed a new band…" Ella just looked at me like she actually cared. A straight yes or no could have done.

"Okay. I'm done. Anyone else need anything?" I asked.

They both shrugged and shook their heads. So I went to pay.

"Is that all?" the lady behind the counter asked.

"Nope. That's it." I said taking out money.

"Okay, that will be…$26.35 please." I gave her the money, she gave me the bag, we left.

"Anyone want food?" Ella asked.

"I'm going out in an hour, but sure." J.J. said.

"Awesome. I want one of those giant soft pretzels." And with that she went right to the food court.

We all got the sticky sugary, cinnamon, frosting coated pretzels. They're extremely unhealthy, but so freaking good.

"So…" J.J. said biting a piece of hers. "What are you going to say?"

"I don't know. There's so much to say." I said. "Maybe his reaction when he sees my hair will trigger something."

"Yeah…he'll freak out. Either get it on video or make sure I'm there with you." Ella said.

"Fine. Hide in a bush or something." I said sarcastically.

"Oh!" J.J. said changing the subject. "Have you thought about what you're doing for the contest yet?" She asked.

"Paint." I said. "I don't know what it'll be of or what kind of painting."

"What about Fang?" Ella asked.

"Not entirely sure. Either photography or charcoal sketch, I think." I said. "He won't tell me of what though…that reminds me; I need to decide soon so I can buy supplies."

"Where you going to do it. No way mom will let you do it inside." Ella pointed out.

"Probably the back yard. More likely front so I can keep it under the awning." I said.

"Why? We're in Arizona. Don't need to worry about rain." Ella laughed popping her last bite in her mouth.

As I was about to say something else my phone rang.

I wiped my hands on my jeans and looked at it.

"It's…Dylan…" I said.

"Why's he calling?" J.J. asked.

"No idea." I said. So I picked up. "Hello?" I asked.

"Max? Good, you answered." He sounded relieved.

"Yeah." I said shortly.

"So…I'm really sorry about what happened earlier."

"Yeah…that was…" I didn't finish.

"Right." He could tell what I was going for. It was silent for a minute.

"Let's talk about this in person." I finally said.

"Yeah, sure, when?" He asked.

"Uh…" I looked at J.J. and covered the phone. "How long will dying take?" I asked.

"Say you can see him on Sunday." She said. I nodded.

"How about Sunday?" I asked. "I promised I'd spend time with Ella tomorrow…"

"Sounds great. Meet you at the usual spot?"

I nodded. Then realized he couldn't see it. "Sure. See you then." I hung up before anything else could be said.

Then it hit me like a tsunami. Even with all the bad in the relationship, there was still a lot of good. Right? There was. Did I really want to break up with him? Maybe things could get better.

"So, it's almost done." Ella said, she patted my hand in comfort.

"Yup." I said. I chewed on my lip. Was it over? Why are they encouraging this? Shouldn't they be a bit more comforting…or am I just being oversensitive? Are they supposed to be this happy about me breaking up with a guy I've been dating for almost a year?

**Okay, I'll update soon. At least I'll try. Sorry for the waiting.  
Please review!  
~XxIgnorancexX~**


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